It’s a combination of things. The most important thing is the location going to serve creatively? Is it pretty visually? Is it going to look good on HD from a cinematography point of view? We want to go to cool places that seem adventurous and fun and look great. [We also look at the local culture] to see what we can incorporate into tribal council and challenges to make them look cool and interesting.

Do you have to pay filming fees to local governments?

We’ve been in places that were national parks, provincial parks or state parks, and that is a different agreement we have to strike up with local or national governments. We’ve also been in places that were almost totally privately owned, so we’ve had to make arrangements with several landowners.

Do you want to come back and film in Australia?

We’ve thought about coming back…. maybe to Far North Queensland, for somewhere tropical.

Or the desert?

I would love to do that! We’ve really only shot one desert location, in the Brazilian Highlands (Tocantins), and that ended up being one of our most beautiful seasons.

Where does host Jeff Probst stay?

Jeff has this huge airship like a blimp, and he’s completely decked out…, no, I’m kidding! (laughs) I like the idea that he gets lifted up into the sky. The contestants wonder if that’s the case: is he teleported in? But his crib is the same as the rest of the crew.

Do the contestants ever ask the medical crew for things like panadol?

They will ask. And it’s like, “Well, you have a headache because you haven’t been boiling enough water and you’re not drinking enough – it’s called ‘Survivor!'” They they’ll say, “We’re hungry, we’ve got a headache” and [the crew] say, “Go catch a fish!”

Do the contestants ever ask the camera crew for food?

Sometimes, in jest, a producer might say, “Come on, it’s time to do an interview” and they’ll respond with, “I’ll do an interview if you give me a granola bar!”

“Jeff has this huge airship like a blimp, and he’s completely decked out…, no, I’m kidding!”

Surely, with the amount of money this series has made, he has a luxury underwater pod in which he loafs around like a cross between Hugh Heffner and Dr Evil, sipping on martinis in his dressing gown whilst nubiles give him massages to relieve his stiffness.